Public Act 102-0574
 
HB3763 EnrolledLRB102 13131 AWJ 18474 b

    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Fire Protection District Act is amended by
changing Sections 14.14, 15c, 16d, 20, and 21.1 and by adding
Section 28 as follows:
 
    (70 ILCS 705/14.14)  (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 34.14)
    Sec. 14.14. (a) In a county having a population of between
500,000 and 750,000, territory within the boundaries of a
non-home rule municipality that receives fire protection
services from more than a single fire protection district may
be disconnected from one fire protection district and
transferred to the district that provides services to the area
comprising more than 80% of the municipality's assessed
valuation. To disconnect that territory, the board of trustees
of one of the affected districts, the corporate authorities of
the municipality, or 5% of the owners of property within the
territory to be disconnected may file a petition in the court
in which the district (from which disconnection is sought) was
organized, setting forth the following:
        (1) The description of the territory sought to be
    transferred.
        (2) A statement that:
            (A) more than 80% of the assessed valuation of the
        municipality lies within one district;
            (B) more than 90% of the residents of the
        municipality reside within that same district;
            (C) the territory to be transferred contains less
        than 10% of the total assessed valuation and total
        number of residents of the affected district;
            (D) the territory to be transferred consists of
        all the territory within the municipality serviced by
        the district from which disconnection is sought;
            (E) the district to which the territory is to be
        transferred agrees to the transfer, as evidenced by
        passage of a resolution by its board of trustees;
            (F) the transfer will not impair the ability of
        the affected districts to render fully adequate fire
        protection services to their residents; and
            (G) the transfer will not cause the territory
        within the affected districts to be noncontiguous.
        (3) That a response-time study has been conducted and
    the study is attached to the petition. The study must, at a
    minimum, provide estimated response times from the current
    fire protection district to the territory and estimated
    response times of the other fire protection district to
    the territory.
    (b) The petition praying that the territory be transferred
shall be signed and sworn to by the petitioner or petitioners.
Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall set the
petition for hearing on a day not less than 2 weeks or more
than 4 weeks from the date of filing the petition. The court
shall give 2 weeks notice of the hearing in the manner provided
in Section 1 of this Act. The municipality and affected
districts shall be necessary parties to the proceedings and
shall be served with summons in the manner prescribed for a
party defendant under the Civil Practice Law.
    (c) Any property owner in the municipality or the affected
districts may file objections and at the hearing may appear
and contest the transfer and the matters averred in the
petition, and both the objectors and petitioners may offer any
competent evidence in regard to the petition.
    (d) If the court, upon hearing the petition, finds that
the allegations contained in the petition are true, then the
court shall enter an order transferring the property.
Thereupon, the territory shall cease to be a part of the fire
protection district in which the territory lies. The circuit
clerk shall transmit a certified copy of the order to the
county clerk and to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
    (e) The territory to be transferred shall remain liable
for its proportionate share of outstanding bonded
indebtedness, if any, of the district from which it is
transferred as of the date of transfer.
(Source: P.A. 87-825.)
 
    (70 ILCS 705/15c)
    Sec. 15c. Disconnection of fire protection district
territory within a home rule municipality. Whenever any
property within a fire protection district is located in a
home rule municipality that provides fire service to at least
80% of the territory within the municipality's corporate
limits, the home rule municipality may detach and disconnect
that property from the fire protection district in the
following manner:
    The municipality may petition the court, setting forth in
the petition the following: a description of the property
sought to be detached and disconnected; a statement that the
detachment and disconnection will not cause the property
remaining in the district to be noncontiguous, that the loss
of assessed valuation by reason of the disconnection of the
described property will not impair the ability of the district
to render fully adequate fire protection service to the
property remaining with the district, that the property to be
detached and disconnected will remain liable for its
proportionate share of any outstanding bonded indebtedness of
the district, that a response-time study has been conducted
and the study is attached to the petition showing, at a
minimum, estimated response times from the fire protection
district to the territory and estimated response times of the
municipal fire department to the territory, and that it is a
home rule municipality that provides for its own fire service
to at least 80% of the territory within the municipality; and
asking that the described property be detached and
disconnected from the fire protection district. The petition
shall be signed and sworn to by the mayor or village president
pursuant to a resolution of the corporate authorities of the
municipality authorizing the filing of the petition.
    For the purpose of meeting the requirement of this Section
that the detachment and disconnection will not cause the
remaining property to be noncontiguous, property shall be
considered to be contiguous if the only separation between
parts of the property is land owned by the United States, the
State, or any agency or instrumentality of either, or any
regional airport authority.
    Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall set the
same for hearing on a day not less than 2 weeks nor more than 4
weeks from the filing thereof and shall give 2 weeks' notice of
such hearing in the manner provided in Section 1 of this Act.
The fire protection district shall be a necessary party to the
proceedings and it shall be served with summons in the manner
prescribed for a party defendant under the Civil Practice Law.
All property owners in such district, the district from which
the transfer of property is to be made, and all persons
interested therein may file objections, and at the hearing may
appear and contest the detachment and disconnection of the
property from the fire protection district, and both objectors
and petitioners may offer any competent evidence in regard
thereto. If the court, upon hearing such petition, finds that
the petition complies with this Section 15c and that the
allegations of the petition are true, the court shall enter an
order detaching and disconnecting the property from the
district, and upon entry of the order the property shall cease
to be a part of the fire protection district and shall be
serviced by the home rule municipality, except that the
property remains liable for its proportionate share of any
outstanding bonded indebtedness of the district. The circuit
clerk shall transmit a certified copy of the order to the
county clerk of each county in which any of the affected
property is situated and to the Office of the State Fire
Marshal.
(Source: P.A. 100-1072, eff. 1-1-19.)
 
    (70 ILCS 705/16d)
    Sec. 16d. Transfer of property between districts. When a
fire protection district has another fire protection district
adjoining it and the adjoining district can provide better
fire protection to an area of land of no more than 60 acres,
consisting of one or more tracts, that is within the corporate
limits of the fire protection district, the area may be
disconnected from the district and annexed to the adjacent
district when each district adopts an ordinance to accomplish
the disconnection and annexation.
    At least 60 days before the property is disconnected from
a district, the disconnecting district must send notice to the
owner or owners of record of the area of land stating that the
disconnecting and annexing districts intend to adopt
ordinances that would disconnect and annex the area under this
Section. The notice shall name the annexing district and
include a description of the territory to be disconnected and
annexed, the reason for doing so, and a map of the territory,
and shall include a response-time study that has been
conducted showing, at a minimum, estimated response times from
the current fire protection district to the property and
estimated response times of the adjoining district to the
property. The notice must also set forth the time and place of
each meeting at which the ordinance will be an agenda item and
must state that there will be an opportunity for public
comment at each of those meetings. The notice shall be sent by
certified mail return receipt requested, but if the name or
address of an owner is not known, then the district must
publish the notice once a week for 2 successive weeks. The
notice shall be published in a newspaper published in the
county where the area is located. Each district's ordinance
shall designate the same date for the effective date of the
disconnection and annexation.
    No earlier than 60 days after the delivery of the notice to
the last of the owners involved or 60 days after the date of
the first publication of the notice, whichever is later, the
disconnecting and annexing districts may adopt an ordinance
accomplishing the disconnection and annexation.
    After it adopts the ordinance, each fire protection
district shall send a certified copy of the ordinance to the
proper county clerk or clerks for filing and to the office of
the State Fire Marshal.
(Source: P.A. 94-337, eff. 1-1-06.)
 
    (70 ILCS 705/20)  (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 38.3)
    Sec. 20. Disconnection by operation of law.
    (a) Any territory within a fire protection district that
is or has been annexed to a municipality a city, village or
incorporated town that provides fire protection for property
within such city, village or incorporated town is, by
operation of law, disconnected from the fire protection
district as of the January first after such territory is
annexed to the municipality as long as the municipality has
conducted a response-time study that shows, at a minimum,
estimated response times from the fire protection district to
the territory and estimated response times of the municipal
fire department from the territory city, village or
incorporated town, or in case any such territory has been so
annexed prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of
1965, as of January 1, 1966.
    (b) The disconnection by operation of law does not occur
if, within 60 days after such annexation or after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1965, whichever is
later, the fire protection district files with the appropriate
court and with the County Clerk of each county in which the
fire protection district is located, a petition alleging that
such disconnection will cause the territory remaining in the
district to be noncontiguous or that the loss of assessed
valuation by reason of such disconnection will impair the
ability of the district to render fully adequate fire
protection service to the territory remaining with the
district. When such a petition is filed, with the court and
with the County Clerk of each county in which the fire
protection district is located, the court shall set it for
hearing, and further proceedings shall be held, as provided in
Section 15 of this Act, except that the city, village or
incorporated town that annexed the territory shall be a
necessary party to the proceedings, and it shall be served
with summons in the manner for a party defendant under the
Civil Practice Law. At such hearing, the district has the
burden of proving the truth of the allegations in its
petition.
    (c) If disconnection does not occur, then the city,
village or incorporated town in which part of a fire
protection district's territory is located, is prohibited from
levying the tax provided for by Section 11-7-1 of the
"Illinois Municipal Code" in such fire protection district
territory for services provided to the residents of such
territory by the fire protection district.
    (d) If there are any general obligation bonds of the fire
protection district outstanding and unpaid at the time such
territory is disconnected from the fire protection district by
operation of this Section, such territory shall remain liable
for its proportionate share of such bonded indebtedness and
the fire protection district may continue to levy and extend
taxes upon the taxable property in such territory for the
purpose of amortizing such bonds until such time as sufficient
funds to retire such bonds have been collected.
    (e) On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act
of the 91st General Assembly, when territory is disconnected
from a fire protection district under this Section, the
annexing municipality shall pay, on or before December 31 of
each year for a period of 5 years after the effective date of
the disconnection, to the fire protection district from which
the territory was disconnected, an amount as follows:
        (1) In the first year after the disconnection, an
    amount equal to the real estate tax collected on the
    property in the disconnected territory by the fire
    protection district in the tax year immediately preceding
    the year in which the disconnection took effect.
        (2) In the second year after the disconnection, an
    amount equal to 80% of the real estate tax collected on the
    property in the disconnected territory by the fire
    protection district in the tax year immediately preceding
    the year in which the disconnection took effect.
        (3) In the third year after the disconnection, an
    amount equal to 60% of the real estate tax collected on the
    property in the disconnected territory by the fire
    protection district in the tax year immediately preceding
    the year in which the disconnection took effect.
        (4) In the fourth year after the disconnection, an
    amount equal to 40% of the real estate tax collected on the
    property in the disconnected territory by the fire
    protection district in the tax year immediately preceding
    the year in which the disconnection took effect.
        (5) In the fifth year after the disconnection, an
    amount equal to 20% of the real estate tax collected on the
    property in the disconnected territory by the fire
    protection district in the tax year immediately preceding
    the year in which the disconnection took effect.
    This subsection (e) applies to a fire protection district
only if the corporate authorities of the district do not file a
petition against the disconnection under subsection (b).
(Source: P.A. 91-307, eff. 1-1-00; 91-917, eff. 1-1-01.)
 
    (70 ILCS 705/21.1)  (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 38.4-1)
    Sec. 21.1. Any resident of a county containing a fire
protection district which has no legal voters residing therein
may file a petition to dissolve the fire protection district
in the circuit court of the county where the district was
organized.
    The petition shall set forth: (a) the description of the
territory comprising the district sought to be dissolved; (b)
that no legal voters reside within such district; (c) that
there is no outstanding bonded indebtedness; and (d) that
adequate fire protection is reasonably available to all
affected property without maintaining the district; and (e) a
response-time study has been conducted that shows, at a
minimum, estimated response times from the fire protection
district to the territory and estimated response times to that
territory after closure of the fire station.
    Upon filing the petition, the provisions of Section 21
concerning a hearing, notice thereof and the filing of
objections shall apply. If the court finds that any of the
conditions set forth in the petition as required herein do not
exist, it shall enter an order dismissing the petition. If the
court finds that all of the conditions set forth in the
petition as required herein exist, it shall enter an
appropriate order to dissolve the district.
    Any assets remaining after settlement of all district
affairs shall be turned over to the county in which the
district lies and if the district lies in more than one county
the share of each shall be in the same proportion as the
percentage of district land lying in such county, except that
real estate shall become the property of the county in which it
is located.
    The circuit clerk shall transmit a certified copy of each
order dissolving a district to the county clerk of each county
in which any of the territory is situated, the State Fire
Marshal and the Department of Revenue.
(Source: P.A. 85-556.)
 
    (70 ILCS 705/28 new)
    Sec. 28. Response-time study before closure of fire
station or district. Before a fire station of a fire
protection district may close or the district be dissolved, a
response-time study must be conducted that shows, at a
minimum, estimated response times to the territory currently
served by the fire station or district and estimated response
times to that territory after closure of the fire station or
district.